In Statewide Primaries, Incumbents Prevail

Last week, the State of New
York held primaries affecting statewide offices.

The majority of the action on
primary day took place within the Democratic Party, which is in the midst of a fight
for control between the liberal Democratic establishment and far-left
insurgents. (The same struggle was on full display in the 2016 presidential
primaries, as liberal establishment Democrat Hillary Clinton faced a strong
challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-identified Democratic socialist. While
Secretary Clinton survived that challenge, she received an unexpectedly close
call; if the Democrats’ nomination process had not favored the establishment
candidate, the outcome may have been different.) The establishment won this
round.

This year’s congressional
primaries left no doubt that there was a great deal of energy and intensity
behind far-left candidates. In June, Democratic voters in Queens made national
news when they voted out longtime Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY14). Rep. Crowley, a
powerful political boss who had been mentioned as a potential successor to
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was trounced
in the primary by a previously unheard-of 28-year-old Democratic socialist
named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on a platform of
universal health care and abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agency (ICE) and has become something of a national celebrity on the far left
since her primary victory.

In this year’s gubernatorial
race, Gov. Andrew Cuomo—the establishment candidate—faced a far-left primary
challenge from actress and activist Cynthia Nixon. While Gov. Cuomo can take
credit for a number of left-wing laws and regulations like the NY SAFE Act,
same-sex “marriage,” a ban on hydrofracking, and a major minimum wage increase,
he had infuriated the far left by failing to push for a Democratic takeover of
the State Senate during his first seven years in office. (At NYCF, we believe
that the Governor quietly supported Republican leadership in the State Senate
because a divided legislature increases his political power. When the Assembly
is led by Democrats and the Senate is led by Republicans, Gov. Cuomo can play
the two houses off against each other.) Leftists assert that if Gov. Cuomo had used
his political capital and fundraising prowess to help Democrats take control of
the State Senate, other left-wing priorities such as abortion expansion,
universal healthcare, marijuana legalization, and the Bathroom Bill could have
become law.

The Governor did not take
his re-nomination for granted; recognizing that the far left was gaining
influence, he made strides in their direction—especially after Nixon announced
her primary challenge. (Some political commentators referred to the Governor’s
leftward shift as “the
Cynthia effect.”) In March, the Governor joined
students who engaged in a “die-in” gun control protest at Zuccotti
Park in Manhattan; this site was the location of the original “Occupy Wall
Street” protests in 2011. In April, Gov. Cuomo—who had vetoed a proposed New
York City plastic bag fee in 2017—called
for a statewide plastic bag ban. Also in April, after Nixon called
for the full legalization of marijuana, the Governor—who had previously
opposed legalization—stated that he was “reconsidering”
his position on the issue; he has since created
a panel to draft a marijuana legalization bill. In May, Gov. Cuomo issued
a “blanket pardon” that restored the voting rights of 24,000 parolees, including
sex offenders. Gov. Cuomo has made it a priority to attack President
Donald Trump and the policies of his administration repeatedly. Perhaps most
significantly, Gov. Cuomo asked the members of the Independent Democratic
Conference (IDC)—a dissident group of Democratic state senators who had helped Republicans
retain control of the chamber—to abandon their alliance with the GOP and rejoin
the Senate Democratic Conference; the IDC members obliged, and the Governor has
called for a Democratic takeover of the Senate.

On election night, Gov.
Cuomo defeated
Cynthia Nixon by 30 percentage points. While Nixon won a swath of 11 counties
in the greater Capital Region, the Governor won 49 of the other 51 counties in the
state. Gov. Cuomo won the Borough of Manhattan and overwhelmed Nixon in the
outer boroughs of New York City. It is possible that the Governor’s shift to
the left helped him to this lopsided victory; however, it is also possible that
he succeeded due to name recognition, the power of incumbency, and the $21.4
million that his campaign spent between mid-January and early September.

The Governor’s allies also won
their respective statewide primaries, but their races were much closer than his
was. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul defeated
New York City Councilmember Jumaane Williams by a single-digit margin for the
Lieutenant Governor nod. Lt. Gov. Hochul’s path to victory was different than
the Governor’s; while the Lieutenant Governor won 58 of New York’s 62 counties,
Councilmember Williams kept the race close by winning a resounding victory in
his native Brooklyn and by prevailing in Manhattan. The Governor and the
Lieutenant Governor now move on to face the Republican ticket of Dutchess
County Executive Marc Molinaro and former Rye City Councilmember Julie Killian,
as well as a series of third-party candidates.

In the four-way race for the
Democratic nomination for Attorney General, New York City Public Advocate and
Cuomo ally Letitia “Tish” James prevailed. (Incumbent Attorney General Barbara
Underwood, who became Attorney General following the resignation of Eric
Schneiderman, is not seeking election.) James enjoyed a nearly 10% margin of
victory over her closest challenger, leftist law professor and 2014 Democratic
gubernatorial primary challenger Zephyr Teachout. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY18) took third place with approximately
25% of the vote, while former Cuomo administration official Leecia Eve was a
nonfactor in the race. James faces Republican attorney Keith Wofford and others
in November.

Now that the statewide primaries are over and
the establishment candidates have prevailed, three questions remain. First,
will Gov. Cuomo’s leftward shift hurt him in the general election? Second, will
Cynthia Nixon continue her campaign on the Working Families Party line? Third,
if the Governor is re-elected, will he continue to embrace the leftist positions
that he took this year? Time will tell.

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"Abortion is the single most significant human rights abuse of our time," said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, which has brought tens of thousands of protesters to Washington every year since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973. "I have a lot of hope for incremental laws — for example, a late-term abortion ban."

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NYCFPAC is affiliated with New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, the statewide evangelical Christian advocacy organization in the Empire State. The mission of NYCFPAC is to elect pro-life, pro-family, and pro-freedom candidates to political office in the State of New York.

We invite all New Yorkers who share our common-sense conservative values to join us in shaping a bright future for the great State of New York.